Commission upholds initial conclusions after reevaluating three judges from the Central Court of Appeal

The Judicial Vetting Commission announces that it has completed the re-evaluation procedures for judges Angela Braga, Silvia Cecan, and Ana Panov of the Central Court of Appeal, as ordered by the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM). In all three cases, the Commission upheld the conclusions established in the initial evaluations.

In the re-evaluation of Judge Angela Braga, the Commission examined circumstances related to the initiation of a criminal investigation against her. The Commission requested from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Chișinău Municipal Prosecutor’s Office, and the SCM documents or primary evidence that would confirm a reasonable suspicion regarding the alleged acts. Both the initial and repeated requests were rejected, either on the grounds that the criminal investigation had not been completed or due to personal data protection. Since the standard of proof requires the Commission to establish integrity issues based on its own factual findings, it was unable to identify, from primary evidence, any new facts or circumstances that would alter the initial conclusion—namely, that the judge passed the evaluation.

In the case of Judge Silvia Cecan, the Commission decided that she failed the re-evaluation, thereby confirming the result of the initial evaluation and the finding of non-compliance with integrity criteria. In the case of Judge Ana Panov, the Commission decided that she passed the re-evaluation, thus maintaining the conclusion of the initial evaluation, in which she had also passed. The re-evaluation procedures focused exclusively on the aspects highlighted by the SCM in the decisions through which the Commission’s reports were rejected and the three evaluations were remitted for re-examination.

Also today, the Commission submitted to the SCM the evaluation report concerning Judge Constantin Damaschin, acting president of the Chișinău Court. According to the Commission’s conclusions, Judge Damaschin meets the integrity criteria and passes the external evaluation.

The Commission's reports do not have immediate effect. The SCM will examine them and issue a decision on whether to accept or reject the Commission’s recommendations. The evaluation results are public on the Commission’s website, and full reports will be published after the expiration of the legal appeal period or, in the event of an appeal, after the final decision of the Supreme Court of Justice.

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